


The Deer and The Wolf

by CroixTheCasanova



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dont read if u hate feels, F/M, It also has what i think will happen in Infinity War, M/M, Peggy x Steve is hinted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 16:03:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13461678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CroixTheCasanova/pseuds/CroixTheCasanova
Summary: Bucky had told him the tale of the deer and and the wolf. Steve made a promise to never do same as the wolf. But will he manage to avoid the inevitable?





	The Deer and The Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> I had this on my works for a while and decided to post it! I hope everyone likes it!

Steve remembers reading something about deers. 

He remembers how Bucky once told him a tale about them.

"Once a deer was friends with a wolf. Both of them ran through the fields together and had the most of fun. However, in the end, the wolf to protect his pack jumped on the deer and attacked him. This is also where the quote 'caught like a deer in headlights' comes from" 

Bucky had explained to him with a soft voice, and the blonde knows how his friend always told him interesting tales.

"But why would the wolf attack his friend?" he had asked, still too naive from the world.

Bucky had just smiled sadly and shrugged, the blonde still confused.

"Sometimes the right choice isn't the easiest. The wolf had to protect his pack and the deer wanted to help him. He couldn't do both so he jumped at his friend"

It had seemed bullcrap at the days. Why would you attack your friend? Steve would always protect Bucky till the end of the line.

"But what stopped the wolf from eating the deer?" 

The other boy just petted his head and got up, a small smile on his face.

"The wolf saw the helplessness on the deer's eyes. He knew that the deer wouldn't do anything to him since the wolf was his friend. So in the end he ran away with his pack and abandoned the deer"

Steve looked at his friends and shook his head. He would never do that to anyone.

\--------

Steve remembers meeting Tony Stark.

The man was facing Loki alone and Steve nearly congratulated him for his braveness.  
However, it wasn't the time.

Tony was…more different than his father. His arrogance was merely a vessel to protect himself from others.

Steve sees something in his brown eyes which stirrs something in his heart. The same stirring which he had felt with Peggy back then.

\------

Nearly losing Tony made Steve understand how in the end, they both were just humans.

Steve knows how losing something dear to you feels and he doesn't want to be broken again like with Bucky and Peggy.

\-----

Steve spends a lot of time with Tony. They both play around, train and joke and he sees how Tony works on his projects.

Steve remembers the small things about Tony. How he likes to take his coffee with two sugars and stirr it a lot. Or how when he has a new a idea he doesn't care about anything else and only works.

He remembers all those and more, while he makes sure Tony stays healthy and takes care for himself.

He remembers both spending time and bonding on those days.

\-----

The fight against Ultron had been hard.

Their friendship was on a thin line and Steve knows how his heart clenched when he saw how sad Tony was.

In the end, he sees as Tony leaves and he feels something leaving with him.

Steve raises his hand towards the leaving car, but then lowers it, shaking his head at the stupid gesture.

Was it to call Tony back? Was it so the brunette could come back at him and stay there?

He didn't leave his mind time to think for a reason for his gesture.

\------

Steve remembers the tale of the wolf and the deer.

"Sometimes the right choice isn't the easiest" he remembers Bucky say.

"The wolf saw the helplessness on his friend's eyes" was the reason why.

Steve could understand the wolf as he looked at Tony. At his friend Tony. At the same Tony which had risked his life to save Manhattan.

The same Tony which now laid under him, bruised and face with blood as he looked at Steve.

"The quote 'like a deer caught in headlights' comes from that tale" had said Bucky.

Tony was a lot like that deer then. His eyes widened and hands raised, with enough power to blast Steve away if he wanted to.

"The deer didn't do anything to the wolf since he was his friend"

Was that also the reason for Tony? 

Steve felt his shield falling as he himself fell beside Tony, both of them hurt and too tired.

He got up and walked towards Bucky, taking his friend on his grasp as he moved them away.

Away from his fear and away from Tony. Steve wondered what fear he had towards his friend.

Was it the fear that he had broken his promise to never loose or hurt Tony? Not to loose him the same way he lost Bucky and Peggy?

"My father made that shield for you!" came the call behind him.

And as he let the shield fall down, Steve remembered again what Bucky had told him.

"The wolf choose his pack Steve. I hope you find a way to keep both the deer and the pack together"

And sadly, Steve never found the way to hold keep them both.

And again, he broke the promise he had made to himself back on his young days. 

The deer wasn't Bucky, it was Tony. And in the end, he didn't manage to not abandon him.

"I'm sorry Tony"

\-------

The last time Steve remembers the tale, he is lying on the ground, blood pouring from his chest.

Steve sees Bucky and Tony before him, both of them crying as they held his body.

"I hope you can find a way to hold both the deer and the pack Steve" was what Bucky said.

But did he mean it in this way? Did the tale really end with the wolf dying to protect the deer he abandoned and the pack?

Steve smiled softly one last time and coughs, Tony yelling something along the lines 'Please don't talk and save your breath'.

"Buck…I…kept my promise…I held the…the deer and…the pack" whispered Steve softly, Bucky sobbing harder as he nodded his head, his metallic hand trying to stop the blood.

Steve knows that it's his end. He knows when he feels his eyes closing, knows it when he sees Bucky screaming harder, when he sees Sam rushing with Rhodey to help him.

But most of all, he sees it in Tony's eyes. 

"The eyes of a deer show you your emotions more clearly than a mirror" had said his mother once.

Steve always thinks of a deer when he sees Tony. And now, when his brown eyes are clouded by tears, Steve sees fear on them.

Tony looked at him once this way, when his shield was up and ready to fall on him again.

Back then it was fear of dying from his friend's hand.

This time it was of his friend dying.

Steve feels his breath coming to an end. He leans closer to Tony and whispers his last words.

"I…I hope…next time…we are…both….wolfes"

And then Steve let's himself go, missing how both his friends screamed louder than anytime or how Tony took his shield and got up, running towards Thanos screaming.

But maybe, in the end, the deer would always be the one to save both the wolf and the pack and achieve the happiness between them all.


End file.
